Can energy companies save the desert?

We’ve been hearing a lot about expanding renewable energy sources like wind and solar lately. President Obama recently committed to opening up public lands to develop more clean energy. Meaning he’ll direct the Department of the Interior to permit 10 gigawatts of clean-energy generation by the end of this year. That’s enough energy to power millions of homes. Likewise, California is aiming for 33 percent renewable energy by 2020. That’s an aggressive target and we’ve created a huge rush to develop the facilities that can meet it. One big question, though, is whether we’ll need to sacrifice the desert’s natural value to produce renewable energy and lessen our dependence on fossil fuels. I don’t believe we should have to make that sacrifice if we can create the right incentives for energy companies to build clean energy in desert areas that are already degraded or heavily used by people. There’s enough degraded land to more than meet our renewable energy goals, and we can avoid untouched, pristine desert completely.

We’re no doubt going to need an “all of the above” approach to renewable energy. While many people argue for rooftop solar and other approaches—and they’re right—in reality a lot a gigawatts are going to come from large-scale solar energy installations. These sites can produce a huge amount of power. They also require a lot of land and sun, which our deserts, not surprisingly, have plenty of. Deserts in the southwestern states are one of the best places to build solar energy, but they are also spectacular open landscapes, many of national park potential.

One federal agency, the Bureau of Land Management, initially received applications to build on more than a million acres. Many of those applications have been narrowed down, but the footprint of the proposed sites could have a significant impact on the desert. It’s likely that they will overlap with habitat for endangered species, like the desert tortoise. Bumping into these guys when you’re building can be costly and create a lot of headaches. These huge sites can also break up habitat, stretch water resources, and ultimately ruin the desert. If energy companies take these challenges into account in the planning phase, they can help protect the desert. Healthy deserts also benefit people. The Mojave provides more than $1 billion in economic benefits each year, from tourism and recreation to natural systems that keep our air and water clean.

The problem is no one had all the information in one place about where to build and where not to build. The Mojave Ecoregional Assessment filled the gap by determining the natural condition of every square mile of the Mojave Desert, something that hadn’t been done before. It pinpoints the areas that are essential to protect and set aside from development completely, like habitat for the desert tortoise. It also highlights areas that are already degraded or converted to human use. These lands are also closer to cities and infrastructure, which means fewer miles of transmission lines need to be built to get the electricity where it’s needed.

The assessment of the Mojave Desert and another of the Sonoran Desert in California are already helping developers, utilities and government agencies make better choices about the siting of renewable energy. Developers are using the information to better assess potential project sites. Utilities are using it to evaluate the risk of signing agreements to purchase renewable power. Government agencies are also using the evaluations as part of the comprehensive planning for renewable energy development on public and private lands.

If we can streamline the permitting process and focus solar energy development on degraded lands, we can meet our renewable energy goals without paving our deserts and ruining the habitat that wildlife and plants depend on to survive. You’ve heard of dolphin safe tuna. Well now energy companies can provide “tortoise safe energy” that’s generated from renewable sources and keeps the desert healthy.